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English (Poems (Links (Relationships, Time - passage of time / things…

- - - - weather evocative as scent
      - The romance of dark storm clouds
      - where drops on a rainmate are sequins
      - fabulous film - noir st of central station
      - and that boat is yet to sail
      - noise and stink and smokey breath or George square
      - betted dark overcoat while spattered by starlings
      - above what was never really this photograph
      - him of her sundress whipped up
      - Simile - Is being compared to a scene which triggers memory of sense experience. This helps the reader to look back in time.
      - Nostalgia - She is thinking about Glasgow in a more positive way rather than the experience actually was. All of us do this. Dark storm clouds is a contrast. It would be negative but its presented in an alluring way which creates a sense of drama.
      - Metaphor - Injects humour, unglamorous plastic head covering described as a humorous image. Favourable nostalgia, past is show in a positive light.
      - Word Choice - Positive word choice, mentioning specific place. Alliteration (ff)
      - Personification - More realistic image. Lack of personal influence, its simply real.
      - Could never really capture that moment because time moves on instantly.
      - Edwin Morgan reference, Lockheads inspirations.
      - Optimistic, looking back but don't know what is coming next.
      - Word Choice - Strong word choice of whipped
  - - - I wish we could either mend things or throw them away
      - where the two rivers meet
      - whole splintering city
      - looking back, looking forward, don't know which way
      - All the couples we know fall apart or have kids
      - Yes today we are in love aren't we?
      - twitch and fret
      - oh I know its cold
      - Both swore of relationship situation at a critical moment but unable to feel energy to restart it. Never fix things.
      - Literal Meaning - River Clyde and the river of football fans Metaphorical Meaning - They are at a crossroad in their relationship.
      - No romanticising Glasgow. She loves the city even though there in conflict and division. There relationship reflecting their surroundings.
      - Balanced structure and Caesura - Reflecting contrast. Relationship is in the balance. Persona is lost and confused in her relationship. Lack of grammatical sense and enjambment.
      - today suggests problems in their relationship. Questioning reveals doubt and insecurity.
      - Having children would give them a reason to stay together.
      - Unpredictable, tense atmosphere. Reflected from the speakers relationship. Not sure what is going to happen, always on edge.
      - cold describing the atmosphere and relationship. Reflecting onto each other.
  - - - Sour potluck of family
      - Lack of control of some of the relationships we are forced into.
      - She too is playing a part. Intention of establishing humour.
      - Deferential, daughterly, I sip
      - She will never stop fighting to become a bigger part of her sons life. Girlfriends feels defeated.
      - She wont / Give up
      - Potentially the mothers only son. Mother lose the first fight - he's with the woman
      - The son she bore
      - fight tooth and nail, fight to the death altered. idiom. Women fighting for the son.
      - caped tooth, polished nail / will fight, fight foul for her survival
      - Mother in laws persona is posh, important, in charge, dangerous
      - Lady of the house / Queen Bee
      - Treated like children trying not to get into trouble. Rival more concerned about her house than the people.
      - we take out shoes off at her door/ shuffle, stocking - soled tip-toe
      - Word choice - stiff uncomfortable/ not pleasant, into the atmosphere felt by the speaker.
      - cushions so stiff you can sink in
  - - - Last year it was very quiet...
      - sockeye salmon / blackbun
      - (This is too ordinary to be nostalgia)
      - Down on her hands and knees/at ten at night on Hogmanay
      - View of Scotland / Love Poem
      - It was considered bad luck to begin the new year with an unclean house - this introduces the themes of superstition and tradition. The detail introduces the evocative nature of the poem - she is exact and specific.
      - Made up words for added humour, creates a sense of family like they were words that her family used - inside jokes.
      - Intrusion of parenthesis makes a deliberate distinction between memory and nostalgia. Lochhead is known for believing that nostalgia is negative and takes away from the real feeling of memories however her attention to mundane detail throughout the poem suggests nostalgic feelings. She is suggesting that this is such a regular event that she cannot see it with any sort of emotional significance.
      - Sockeye salmon, black bun and shortbread are typical Scottish foods for Hogmanay in the 50's - links to tradition.
      - jiffywaxing the vinolay
      - Italics introduce the voice of another person - possibly her mother? They do the same things every year despite the fact that last year nothing happened. Ellipsis implies hope that this year will be better. They stick to the traditions which in this case is to prepare for any potential visitors
      - Shows that the poem is about Scotland, the narrator's love for it. Also a conventional love poem to her lover, likely her husband
      - Tradition - trying to make herself look presentable as well as her house. Superstitious element that this is necessary attachment to new year.
      - Nearly half ten
      - Building up to the event, everyone rushes and becomes so excited almost to reach an anti climax when nothing really happens. New year, New me is just a concept
      - familiar strangers at a party
      - Oxymoron - two words that don't fit, next to each other placed next to each other for effect
      - well pressed good dress
  - - - old now / grasp of things is not so good
      - you slit the stil-ticking quick silver fish
      - sure and skilful / young fisher girl
      - deft and swift
      - but the needles still move/their rhythms in the working of your hands
      - Hard work it was too/of necessity
      - There is no need they say
      - hand span waist / tin bath by the coal fire
      - scraped and slaved slapped sometimes
      - no necessity...
      - Repetition throughout the play. Introduces the theme of hardship Vs. Excess. Alienation between the grandmother and the child. Shows that they feel there is no need for her to continue knitting but it is all she has, she feels useful when she does this like she has done in the past and they are continually telling her that she doesn't need to. It's like they are saying they don't need her.
      - This personify's the needles, she does it do effortlessly, to her it is instinctive.
      - She is still the same women she used to be but she is now taken for granted. Shows that she has always been needed and has always been skilled. Now knitting is all she has to make herself feel needed.
      - Refers to the theme of Past Vs. Present. Old is all she is now, that is how the Grandchild see's her. Her grasp is literally in her hands but also metaphorically in her mind. Shows how her age has made her seem less capable although she isn't and her ability to knit effortlessly shows this.
      - The assonance and alliteration of the line helps to emphasize the dexterity of her grandmother’s hands when she was young.
      - Shows contrast with the elderly grandmother and young girls youth.
      - This encourages us to consider her growing sense of uselessness. The enjambment and end stopped line emphasizes the necessity and importance of hard work and being needed to the grandmother
      - Despite her previous tender frame she was a strong and powerful woman. She still wants to work so that she is socially accepted. The tin bath is a reflection of harder times.
      - Onomatopoeia - shows she is capable of being strict when needed even though she is a loving mother/ Grandmother. Sibilance - shows the day to day hardship endured by the working class.
      - Ellipsis - indicates an ongoing discussion, they have this conversation over and over again but she continues regardless. It makes us reconsider our understanding of what is necessary. For her children, the idea of need is solely attached to their needs, not their mother’s.
  - - - Ready to renounce
      - Alliteration. Sets mood - dark and sinister. Biblical language 'renounce' she will turn her back on him forever.
      - Savage Integrity
      - Oxymoronic. Exposes the hypocrisy of woman. Not only do they expect men to be unfaithful but use betrayal to make them feel superior. Brutal not compassionate.
      - Munching on the lies.
      - Metaphor. Greedily feasting on his deceit.
      - leftover hash
      - Pun. Mixing leftovers to make a hash, she will feats on details with her friends later and re-live it all
      - lighting candles
      - Irony. Associated with love and romance but it is irony as she has created the image of a romantic dinner for two when it is the complete opposite.
      - sizzling sausages
      - Alliteration / Simile. Sausages are tasty but ultimately are unhealthy just like the damage going on in the relationship.
      - Gnawing on the knucklebone of some intricate irony
      - Metaphor / assonance. Conveys that is a feast that is to enjoyed slowly, picking every bit of flesh off the bone as her and her friends discuss every detail.
      - That's rich!
      - Direct speech / dual meaning. Rich food or something that was said was "rich"
- - - - It wouldn't be make believe if you believed in me
      - Blanche singing in the bathroom. Shows her growing instability as it is symbolic of her fantasy world (Also symbolic towards the conversation Stanley and Stella are having at the time, he wants Stella to believe him.)
      - I've got to be good and keep my hands off children A seventeen-year-old boy – She’d gotten mixed up with!
      - She kisses the small boy. Since her husband was young when they were married she desires younger men. Suggests s problem with her teaching Job.
      - hectic breakdown
      - Reiterates Blanches mental instability. Stanley is breaking her, se is no match for him.
      - no lily Ha-ha
      - Stanley relishes in exposing Blanche to Stella. He thinks that he is winning. Evokes pathos towards Blanche.
      - I'd have that on my conscience the rest of my life
      - Stanley is faking a moral high ground, He is trying to make out that he is doing the right thing when he isn't, he is doing it for personal gain.
      - Blanche has nothing left in Loral. Him trying to send her back is extremely nasty especially by bus which isn't a way she would like to travel. By sending her back he is sending her back to her place of failure.
      - I bought her a ticket myself
    - - Stella hasn't been so well lately, and I came down to help her for a while
      - Blanche wants to cover up the fact that she is now destitute with no where to go.
      - This is Mitch talking about his mother, it shows a more sensitive and caring side to him. This portrays him to be different to the other men, for Stanley has no tolerance for emotion.
      - Till we get ready to quit
      - She says go out, so I go out, but I don't enjoy it. All the while I keep wondering how she is
      - Stanley, again, asserting his dominance. He is telling Stella that he will do as he pleases and that she cannot boss him around.
      - This generally sums up the men sitting at the poker table. It represents them.
      - they are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours
      - Blanche looks after him with certain interest / That one
      - Shows Blanche's sudden interest in Mitch. The second quote dehumanises Mitch, mikes it seem impersonal. Makes it clear that she is desperate for a man.
      - Blanche is desperate for attention. Standing in front of the curtain that will be close to transparent. It is clear that she knows this but wants to attract attention. She will not let them see her fully so she is being deliberately seductive.
      - Oh, am I!
      - awkward imitation
      - Mitch takes control of the situation. This shows that he can be dominant when it is needed but also has his sensitive side. At this point in the play we can see domestic abuse between Stanley and Stella. This is where we begin to see Stanley in a bad light which later allows us to sympathise towards blanche.
      - This is when mitch is trying to dance with Blanche. This shows the class divide. She is flirting with Mitch at this point. This creates a rough and large sized character of mitch.
      - Get him in here, men
    - - Key Quotes
        
        I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley / Life has got to go on
        
        She is hiding in her safe place so that she is away from Stanley. When she was hiding in the bathroom before she was coming out refreshed and was flaunting herself. Now, she is shy and hesitant which shows how much Stanley has really affected her. He has broken her.
        
        This suggests that Stella knows the truth but chooses not to believe it. It shows how much women rely on men. She needs him. She has to believe Stanley's story or he would kick her out and she would be left with nothing.
        
        Blanche opens the bathroom door slightly / opens a little
        
        tragic radiance
        
        Beforehand Blanche was trying to wash away the stains of her past whereas, now she is trying to wash away Stanley's violation.
        
        Her red robe from before symbolised romance and seduction. In reality her tragic desire for sex has led to her downfall.
        
        the sound of water
        
        I will die - with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor
        
        Stella is vulnerable and in a state of grief. Instead of comforting her Stanley takes advantage of that. This shows his lack of sensitivity.
        
        Blanche is imagining some chivalrous man who will look after her. She is still hoping for a better life for herself.
        
        He kneels beside her and his fingers find the opening of her blouse.
        
        Steve: This game is a seven-card stud
        
        The significance of a minor character saying the last line is that it shows that they carry on with life like nothing has happened. It confirms that any man has dominance and that it is a man's world. It is a more modern card game which shows how the world is changing and how the new Americans are taking over. Life will continue regardless.
        
        Major quote. Shows that blanche is more inclined to trust a stranger than her own family. Also creates sympathy. When talking about strangers she is probably meaning the men she was sleeping with for safety but they were never really kind to her - they were using her. Blanche thought they were being kind and so forth relied on them. She is now relying on a doctor who she believe to be a kind gentlemen but is not and is lying to her. In reality she is being lied to and she has completely fallen for it.
        
        I have always depended on the kindness of strangers
    - - Blanche s trying to dress up like Cinderella or like a bride, although crumpled and scuffed suggest it is more like a broken fairy-tale. She is still trying to keep this illusion alive but is failing drastically.
      - Improvising feverishly
      - Somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers
      - She is desperately trying to keep the lies going, this evokes pathos in the reader. She is frightened that she wont be able to hold up the fairy tale image.
      - Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable. It is the one unforgivable thing in my opinion and it is the thing of which I have never, never been guilty.
      - Blanche never meant to hurt anyone, her lies were only to hide a harsh reality. She was trying to avoid her own downfall
      - Through the back wall of the rooms, which have become transparent
      - Symbolises the harsh reality of the real world is not shining in and ruining the illusion that she has created. The more the illusion fades, the more transparent the walls become.
      - She smashes a bottle on the table
      - Up till this point alcohol has been her escape, this symbolises that she can no longer hide from reality and has no escape anymore
      - The silk pyjamas I wore on my wedding night!
      - He is wearing something sacred like the pyjamas from his wedding night to rape his sister in law. Shows how vile and disgusting he is.